Song of Songs 3, 4
1 In the night on my bed
I sought him whom my soul loves;
I sought him, but did not find him.
I called him, but he did not hear me.
2 I will rise now and go about the city,
In the marketplaces and the streets.
I will seek him whom my soul loves.
I sought him, but did not find him.
3 The watchmen who do their rounds in the city
Found me, and I said to them,
“Have you seen him whom my soul loves?”
4 Scarcely had I departed from them
When I found him whom my soul loves.
I held him and would not let him go
Until I brought him into my mother’s house,
Into the chamber of her who conceived me.
5 I implore you, O daughters of Jerusalem,
By the hosts and powers of the field,
That you rouse not nor wake my love
Until he wishes.
Companions
6 Who is this who comes up from the desert
Like pillars of smoke,
Offering incense, myrrh, and frankincense,
With all the fragrant powders of the perfumer?
7 Behold the bed of Solomon;
Sixty mighty men round about it
From the mighty ones of Israel,
8 All holding a sword
And trained in war.
Every man has his sword upon his thigh
Because of fear in the night.
9 King Solomon made a palanquin for himself
From the trees of Lebanon.
10 He made its pillars of silver
And its back of gold,
Its covering crimson,
Its interior a mosaic of love,
Because of the daughters of Jerusalem.
11 Go forth and look at King Solomon,
At the crown with which his mother crowned him
In the day of his wedding,
And in the day of the gladness of his heart.
The Groom
1 Behold, you are beautiful, my companion,
Behold, you are beautiful.
Your eyes are like doves behind your veil;
Your hair is as flocks of goats
Coming down from Gilead.
2 Your teeth are as flocks of shorn sheep
That went up from the washing,
All of them bearing twins,
And none among them is barren.
3 Your lips are like a thread of scarlet,
And your manner of speech is pleasant.
As the rind of a pomegranate
Are your cheeks behind your veil.
4 Your neck is like the tower of David,
The one built on courses of stone.
A thousand shields hang upon it,
All the arrows of the mighty men.
5 Your two breasts are like two fawns,
Twins of a gazelle, that feed among the lilies.
6 Until the day dawns and the shadows depart,
I will go my way to the mountain of myrrh
And to the hill of frankincense.
7 You are altogether beautiful,
And there is no blemish in you.
8 Come from Lebanon, my bride, come from Lebanon.
Beginning with faithfulness, you shall come and pass through
From the top of Senir and Hermon,
From the dens of lions
And the mountains of leopards.
9 My sister, my bride, you ravished my heart;
You have ravished my heart with one look from your eyes,
With one jewel of your necklace.
10 My sister, my bride,
How beautiful are your breasts.
How much more beautiful are your breasts than wine,
And the fragrance of your garments than all the spices.
11 Your lips, my bride, drip as the honeycomb;
Honey and milk are under your tongue;
And the fragrance of your garments
Is as the scent of Lebanon.
12 My sister, my bride, is an enclosed garden;
An enclosed garden, a sealed fountain.
13 Your plants are a garden of pomegranates
With the fragrance of a fruit harvest
And aromatic plants:
14 Spikenard and saffron,
Calamus and cinnamon;
With every tree of Lebanon,
Myrrh, aloes, with all the finest spices;
15 A fountain of gardens,
A well of living and rushing water from Lebanon.
The Bride
16 Awake, O north wind,
And come, O south wind;
Blow through my garden
And let my spices flow out.
Let my beloved come to his garden
And eat of its fruits.
Psalm 50:1–10
1 For the End; a psalm by David;
2 when Nathan the prophet came to him, at the time he went in to Bathsheba.
3 Have mercy on me, O God, according to Your great mercy;
And according to the abundance of Your compassion, blot out my transgression.
4 Wash me thoroughly from my lawlessness
And cleanse me from my sin.
5 For I know my lawlessness,
And my sin is always before me.
6 Against You only have I sinned
And done evil in Your sight;
That You may be justified in Your words,
And overcome when You are judged.
7 For behold, I was conceived in transgressions,
And in sins my mother bore me.
8 Behold, You love truth;
You showed me the unknown and secret things of Your wisdom.
9 You shall sprinkle me with hyssop, and I will be cleansed;
You shall wash me, and I will be made whiter than snow.
10 You shall make me hear joy and gladness;
My bones that were humbled shall greatly rejoice.
Proverbs 10:23–27
23 The blessing of the Lord is upon the head of a righteous man;
It enriches him, and grief of heart will not be added to it.
24 A man without discernment does evil things with laughter,
But wisdom gives birth to discernment in a man.
25 The ungodly man is carried about in destruction,
But the desire of the righteous man is acceptable.
26 The ungodly man is destroyed by the passing storm,
But the righteous man turns aside and shall be saved forever.
27 As an unripe grape is harmful to the teeth and smoke to the eyes,
So is a lawless woman to the men who use her.
1 Corinthians 8
1 Now concerning things offered to idols: We know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love edifies.
2 And if anyone thinks that he knows anything, he knows nothing yet as he ought to know.
3 But if anyone loves God, this one is known by Him.
4 Therefore concerning the eating of things offered to idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is no other God but one.
5 For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as there are many gods and many lords),
6 yet for us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we for Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and through whom we live.
7 However, there is not in everyone that knowledge; for some, with consciousness of the idol, until now eat it as a thing offered to an idol; and their conscience, being weak, is defiled.
8 But food does not commend us to God; for neither if we eat are we the better, nor if we do not eat are we the worse.
9 But beware lest somehow this liberty of yours become a stumbling block to those who are weak.
10 For if anyone sees you who have knowledge eating in an idol’s temple, will not the conscience of him who is weak be emboldened to eat those things offered to idols?
11 And because of your knowledge shall the weak brother perish, for whom Christ died?
12 But when you thus sin against the brethren, and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ.
13 Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I will never again eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble.